On Day three of the Junior’s Freestyle World Championships, the thermal winds picked up in the afternoon and allowed for the completion of the single elimination. Immediately following, the double elimination round got underway, running another round of finals for the under 13 girls and under 12 boys, and the girl’s 13-16 category was run to completion. Vera Klabbers (NL) took the top position in the girl’s age category 14-16 and earned the first world title of the event.

Kicking off the clinic portion of the event today, riders joined a workshop with the PKRA media team, which covered a wide range of topics including interview and photo/video shoot skills, exposure and sponsorship strategies, as well as social media leveraging.

Part of the experience gave the excited juniors the opportunity to practice their interview skills on camera at the beach for both the national Spanish TV as well as for the PKRA video crew.

Following a lunch break, the breeze filled in from the southeast providing steady side onshore winds allowing the use of 7m-13m kites. At 3:00, heats got underway with the boys age category 14-16 being the first to hit the water. Krzysiek Issel won the loser’s final and beat out Guy Bridge in a tough heat. Although Bridge landed some impressive tricks including a S1 and S-Mobe, Issel’s overall execution made the difference combined with a powerful Back Mobe and S1 to earn the win.

In the winner’s final, 2013 Junior Freestyle World Champion Noe Font, put together a very impressive heat, landing 7 out of his 12 trick attempts, against Denis Zurik. The heat was close right up to the very end when Font stomped a Back Mobe and 2xS1 in the last minutes to give him the advantage. Zurik landed a Hinterberger Mobe and S-Mobe 5 but Font took the win.

The boy’s age category 12-14 loser’s final saw Christian Tio advancing over Javier Jimenez. Pulling a nice Back Mobe and 315, Tio demonstrated good power and kite position, which put him on top for the win. 2013 Freestyle Junior World Champion Tom Bridge’s aggressive style helped him win against Alec Mur Peris. Although Mur Peris rode with good consistency in the semi-finals, he seemed to struggle in the finals and Bridge came out by a large margin.

In the girl’s division, the double elimination for the age category 13-16 saw Greta Monardo working her way up the ladder by demonstrating good power and speed in her tricks. Monardo lacked the consistency needed to advance past Lea Ademi in the semi-finals, who nailed a nice Blind Judge to win the heat.

In the finals, the battle for the world title went down as both girls were clearly giving it their all. In the end, Klabbers demonstrated that she was deserving of the title by riding with power and speed, landing a S-Bend to Blind, Back-to-Wrap, and a Blind Judge, securing the world title and giving us our first Junior Freestyle World Champion of the event. Congratulations to Vera Klabbers (NL) for earning the world title with her powerful repertoire of tricks.

Tomorrows forecast is calling for thermal winds beginning early. The double elimination is set for a first possible start at 10:30 am following a 10:00 am meeting.